The country’s most conservative prime minister, in the country’s most conservative province, was shown out of the door by his party because he wasn’t conservative enough.
Worse still, his troops accuse him of jeopardizing their re-election against the NPD in a year’s time.
In summary, Jason Kenney suffered a coup from the more radical wing of his party, but the real threat comes from the left.
Find the mistake
But it is the dynamic that is tearing apart the conservative movement in the country.
If Alberta’s premier is the first victim, Canada’s Conservative Party’s current leadership race is a perfect example of the pitfalls.
As the militant base becomes more radicalized, it risks alienating the party from the values of the majority of voters.
Pandemic Rabies
The phenomenon has always fueled the tensions inherent in the conservative movement.
But the pandemic has unleashed an inner anger that now threatens the party’s credibility as a government-on-hold.
At least two of the candidates, Leslyn Lewis and Roman Barber, are openly flirting with the conspiracy movement. We have reached the point where we are conjuring up a WHO Trojan horse to compromise Canadian sovereignty!
Pierre Poilièvre is waging war in the name of liberty with everything resembling the establishment, from the governor of the Bank of Canada to the guardians of the Temple who are blocking the construction of new housing, depriving an entire generation of the dream of owning property. . .
There is nothing better to mobilize a new segment of the electorate than to express the sense of alienation felt by thousands of Canadians isolated, depressed and exhausted by the pandemic.
Let’s be clear, this anger is legitimate.
The problem is the simplistic solutions that are brought to it. A new mirage that will only end in disappointment, talk to Jason Kenney.
Black and white
Because anger as a political basis does not preserve the nuances inherent in the reality of power.
Mobilizing the members of a political party is much easier than governing for the common good of an entire society.
Anger prevents the compromise that is the very origin of good government. It reassures activists but worries the rest of the electorate.
Certainly Donald Trump managed to seize power in the United States under the impetus of this anti-establishment anger.
The question today is whether this is an exception specific to the division in American society, or a recipe to be exported to a moderate society like Canada.
The other side of the coin of such a vision remains the hope that Justin Trudeau sold to the Canadians in 2015.
Pierre Poilièvre is therefore trying to square the conservative circle: to sell the hope of an unprecedented freedom, cloaked in contempt for the elites and institutions. A response to Justin Trudeau’s contempt for “closed” people, those “who don’t think right”.
It’s a strong cocktail, but potentially explosive.
